Second Chances
by tillietorpedo91
Summary: This is a story about two girls who wreck their ship and are found by the Straw Hats. They join the crew, and eventually some romance happens. Two pairings, not telling 'cause it's obvious. Rated T for some gore and just to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! This is a fanfiction that I wrote with a ton of help from my BFF, who goes by "theiswe" on this site. It is a double OC pairing fanfic, which I know some of you may associate with words like "pure crap" and "hell", but I am really proud of this. So if you do read it, please don't give it any hate based off of my OCs. And if you think you will absolutely hate it, well then don't read it. And alright, I know, you are all probably thinking "WHY ISN'T SHE WORKING ON HER OTHER FANFIC?" but see, the thing is I have this really really REALLY bad case of writer's block right now. I'm working through it, but I'm still kind of stuck right now. So, anyway, theiswe and I wrote this story earlier without ever intending to publish it, but I decided to do so in hope that this would keep you, my readers, occupied while I struggle through my bad "illness". And don't worry, I will post chapter 2 of "Stuck with the Straw Hats" very soon. But in the meantime, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own One Piece, any of the original Straw Hats, or Xena (theiswe invented her).

Nayami's P.O.V.

I looked out at the rainbow sunset that danced across the horizon. My long, brown hair flowed behind me as I surveyed the deck below. The crow's nest was my favorite spot on the ship. I felt like I could see the world from up here. As I took in a deep breath to smell the salty air, my sharp nose detected a wisp of tropical flowers. Within a couple of minutes I could see the island.

Then everything went wrong.

"Xena! Storm ahead! Call everyone to deck!" I yelled from the crow's nest. She screamed her peculiar warning call (she always had a weird voice). After she let out the cry the crew began to assemble.

"Storm!" I yelled again. "Get into your positions!" I continued to scream orders over the howling wind.

We all tried as hard as we could but with no avail and now the ship was sinking and our poor crewmates were dying right before our eyes. Despite all the cries of pain, good byes and the wind I heard a deafening scream, it was Xena. I went over to check on her.

When I walked over I saw blood on her hands and some one cradled in her lap. She wasn't crying, she never did, but the sadness and guilt in her face and eyes made up for it.

She screamed and collapsed, revealing the persons face. It was her very best friend, and he lay there, dead. It took me a moment to realize that Xena was not dead but had just passed out (and thrown up) in sadness and shock but before I could do anything I then felt something hit my head, red goo oozed into my eyes and I too, passed out.

3rd person P.O.V.

Rikka Nayami stared out at the ocean. She was not passed out on her wrecked ship, and she was certainly not going to find Zoro and Sanji leaning over her and Xena and checking if they were still alive.

She looked out at the beautiful sunset that was identical to the one on the evening when her ship crashed. As she sniffed the air, she detected tropical flowers. She was having a strange sense of deja vu. When she looked out on the horizon, she saw an island, but not the one in her memory. She sighed, and it seemed like all the bad memories flew out of her mind.

"Land ho!" she cried. Down below, the crew assembled. Zoro dropped his 4-ton weights and stared up at Nayami. The brown-haired girl had joined the crew a couple months ago when they had found her buried under the remains of her ship with her sister Xena. Come to think of it, where was Xena? Zoro looked around to see the blond girl running, knives in hand.

"Did you say land, Nay-nay?" she called a bit louder than she needed to.

"I told you never to call me NAY-NAY!" Nayami screamed back at her.

"Okay, okay. God..." Xena took out a handkerchief and began to polish her precious throwing knives. She never went anywhere without them.

Just then they heard a voice call out "Breakfast!" Sanji emerged from the kitchen carrying eleven plates of food. Four of them were bigger then the rest.

Luffy ran over and reached for the food, but Sanji said "Just wait a minute, you rubbery bottomless pit!"

He called the four female members of the crew over. He then passed out the four bigger plates.

"One for Nami-san, one for Robin-chan, one for Nayami-kun, and one for Xena-sama!"

Robin smiled and started to eat. Nami did the same, but rolled her eyes when she thought no one was looking. Nayami smiled and said "Thank you Sanji!" just to be polite, but sighed and shook her head in pity when Sanji's back was turned. Xena muttered "Yeah, thanks" as well, but she was thinking about punching his face. Sanji was such an idiot.

Xena ate with awful manners. She shoveled food into her mouth, she propped her feet up on the table, and talked with her mouth full. She could ALMOST eat as much as Luffy. This all really got on Sanji's nerves, yes he was a ladies man but this woman aggravated the crap out of him.

It was the same with Xena; she hated how Sanji always payed attention to women, but treated every one else as unequals, and she REALLY hated it when he said things like "Don't worry, I'll protect you!" She was fully capable of protecting herself. And she could kick major Sanji ass if necessary.

They reached the island in less than an hour. Before they got too close they lowered their pirate flag. They didn't know if these people were friendly to pirates or not.

When they docked in the harbor, Luffy spotted another ship. When he recognized it, his eyes darkened and he let out a low growl. When Zoro saw it, he didn't growl, but his discomfort was shown. Nami also had a glare of hatred in her eye. In fact, the whole crew was making hateful looks.

Nayami and Xena didn't recognize the ship, but it was obvious they would be doing some butt-kicking today.

Luffy stared at the ship for a while, then, suddenly: "LET'S GET 'IM!" he roared, and the crew ran to the ship.

Not only did they majorly kick butt, but they also got a good load of treasure. Nami was delighted.

"Okay, I think we all need to go into town to get some supplies," Sanji said randomly. Everyone nodded in agreement.

"Ooh! Maybe I can get some new maps!" Nami squealed in delight, forgetting all about the treasure. "Yes, and I can get FOOD!" Luffy panted. "Yeah, the grog supply is running low," Zoro mentioned. Each crew member told everyone what they needed to get.

"Wait, someone needs to guard the treasure," Nami said.

"I don't really need anything from town," Xena said. "I'll stay back. Just bring me a doggy bag."

"Okay!" Luffy said happily, and ran off.

"Knowing him, there's not gonna be much left," Zoro muttered, and went after Luffy.

Xena's P.O.V.

I watched the crew walk away into town. After they were all just specks, I turned to go into the treasure room. I sat down in the middle of the room and began to polish my throwing knives. I knew I was done when I could literally see my reflection.

Now I had nothing else to do.

_Hmmm... _I thought. _Maybe I can look at some of the treasure._ I dug through the pile and found a small chest. Inside was a rare-looking fruit. As I pulled it out, my stomach growled.

_There's no harm if I eat it, right? _I finished it in four bites. It had a light consistency and tasted of... clouds? After a while, I got bored again and drifted off to sleep.

I thought I had woken up but something wasn't right. I wasn't in the ship but rather a completely different realm. The atmosphere was light and EVERYTHING was white or cream, and the smell was like an exotic flower you would find on a summer island. It greatly surprised me when it turned to a mild yellow color and the smell shifted to lemons.

I soon realized that something was REALLY wrong. Still I ignored the thought and continued to look around. I soon noticed I had been floating the whole time and that there was a door that wasn't the color of every thing else and wandered towards it.

I soon found myself in a midnight sky where hundreds upon thousands of white and golden doors floated. Each was labeled with a name and last name. I went looking through the doors and saw a group of doors with _very_ familiar names on it.

I saw one that said _Rikka Nayami_.

'_Hmm...lets try this one' _I thought. As I floated in I was met by a large space much like the last one.

Suddenly, everything went dark. I was jarred awake. The crew wasn't back yet. "Okay, that was weird," I said to myself. I decided to clear my head by taking a swim. I walked out on deck and jumped into the shining waves below me.

Everything was fine- for about two seconds. Then my limbs were paralyzed. I couldn't move. The sea was engulfing me. I felt certain I was going to die here.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi everyone! Here's the second chapter. I know, it's out before the second "Stuck with the Straw Hats" chapter, but you know, I had it ready and everything, so…**

**Disclaimer: **I don't own One Piece, any of the original Straw Hats, or Xena and the Yume-Yume No Mi (theiswe owns them both).

Robin's P.O.V.

After we got all our supplies, we came back to the ship. As we were walking out of the the thick flower bushes that blocked the Thousand Sunny from view, we noticed a small shape flailing around in the water. It was Xena!

I was confused. I thought she knew how to swim. Luffy, like the idiot he was, yelled "I'll save you!" and jumped in. But of course, then he had to be saved as well.

"You idiots!" Nami cried, and jumped in after them. "I'll get Xena! Zoro, you get Luffy!" she ordered behind her. "Wha-" Zoro began to say, but he was cut off with a "JUST DO IT!" from Nami. "Okay, fine," he grumbled as he jumped in after the Gum-Gum man with a low IQ.

After Nami and Zoro retrieved Xena and Luffy, we took them on board the ship. As Nami gave Xena a towel, she explained what happened.

"I was just going for a quick swim, but suddenly my arms and legs just couldn't move!" she whispered. She shivered, whether from cold or horror I could not tell.

Suddenly a look of realization and then shock came over Nami's face. "Oh crap, oh crap! Crap crap crap!" she cried as she raced down to the treasure room. I could here her cursing all the way up on deck. She ran back up again.

"Xena, did you eat the fruit in that little chest?" she said frantically. "Yes..." Xena said sheepishly.

"THAT'S THE YUME-YUME NO MI! THE DREAM-DREAM FRUIT!" she shrieked. "You now have complete power over dreams, you're the queen of dreams - and you can't swim anymore!" As this sank in, a look of shock and distrust settled on Xena's face. "I didn't know..." she whispered with apology, but her voice was laced with curiosity.

"It's okay, honey," I said comfortingly. "We know you didn't know."

"Oh great, that makes five of them," Zoro mumbled.

"Shut up!" Nami said, and punched his arm.

Xena's P.O.V.

I was completely entranced at the idea of being queen of the dream world and unconsciously tuned everyone out as I wondered just what I could do with those doors I had seen earlier.

"I'm gonna go take a nap." I announced with my ever-present cool grin a little larger than usual.

Before I walked over to the anchor (my favorite spot on the whole ship) I noticed every one looked at me with confusion because of how calm I was in a situation like this. My grin got a little creepy and my eyes were shaded by the bandanna I was wearing.

"Um, Xena? Where are you going?" Nami asked.

"To the anchor, of course," I replied.

"But that's not safe! You'll fall in and drown!"

"Who gives a crap? And I will not, don't worry." I claimed with complete confidence.

"Wait, I know how you can be safe!" Nayami cried.

"Okay, are you serious?"

I was sitting on the anchor, all right, but my body was bound to the anchor by rope. I could barely move my arms.

"Yep! This way, you can sit on the anchor without any danger of falling!" Nayami said cheerfully. I face-palmed as well as I could with my arms bound. Up on deck, Sanji gave an amused smile as he watched the scene below. "Not a word, stupid cook," I growled up at him.

"Well, this is nice, but I'm gonna go take a nap," I said. "Can you please untie me now?" I asked Nayami with a smile. After she did so, I climbed up the anchor rope, walked to my cabin, and plopped on my bed.

'_Ugg gotta find a way to take naps on the anchor,' _I thought. _'Anyhoo, lets explore my new "kingdom",' _I whispered to myself. I soon drifted off into sleep.

I found myself in the same room as the last time, but this time it was mild orange and smelled like, well, an orange.

'_Ha, Nami would love this,' _I chuckled in my head. I headed to the big door I saw last dream and realized it wasn't one big door but two tall doors. Both were labeled, the one on the right said "Endless Realm" and the other said "Sleep". I went into the one called "Endless Realm".

When I got inside I saw the same set of doors as before: the ones with my crew members' names on them. I walked over to the one that said _Rikka Nayami_.

'_I hope it works this time'_, I thought. I pushed open the door and the room that I entered was the same as the last but only had three doors and there was no stars, so it wasn't really the same. I noticed that the three doors also had labels.

"Whats with the labels!" I screamed/asked while flailing my arms in the air. The labels read "Future" "Present" and "Past" I floated over to the "future" door and turned the knob.

I was swept away in a sea of blackness.

I landed on a beach that I immediately recognized as the one we were docked at. It was raining heavily. I looked around and saw Zoro and Sanji running towards the ship. They were carrying something in their arms. I saw it was an unconscious Nayami.

Wait a second. Zoro and Sanji were working together? '_Hmm,' _I thought. _'I'm witnessing a rare occasion.' _

A million questions flew through my head. _Why is Nayami unconscious? Why are Sanji and Zoro in such a hurry? What is going on? _But of course, before I got an answer to any of these questions, I was swept out of Dreamland.

Some one was making A LOT of noise, my eyes fluttered open and I heard gasps of surprise then sighs of relief. Apparently Nayami came to check on me and I wasn't there, I immediately shook this off and proceeded to tell every one of my dream.

Every one exchanged glances and nodded. Nayami chewed on her lip, a worried expression on her face.

"We'll take precautions until we leave the island." Nami announced after a while. I nodded in acceptance but some thing told me this was the definite future.

I was chatting with Nayami up in the crow's nest when I felt a tremendous pressure change in the air, a big storm was coming.

"Crap!" I immediately thought of my dream.

"It's probably just an ordinary storm," Nayami said. It seemed as if she read my mind. She does that a lot with me. I guess it's a sister thing.

"Yeah," I said. "Just a storm." But it didn't help the sinking feeling inside my chest.

As I was surveying the shore, Usopp came running out of the forest of tall flower bushes, screaming his head off. We had assigned him to look out for any ships or inhabitants that may pose a threat.

"Well, it looks like we have a 'situation'," Nayami muttered. It was hard to tell what he was saying, but I made out something about a weird guy with lots of minions and some "friends". I took it the "friends" were our enemies as well.

The crew assembled for battle.

"How many of these friends did you say there were, Usopp?" Nami asked.

"Erm, nine, and the leader. No, wait, the leader makes nine, so eight friends!" Usopp cried in success.

"Yay Usopp!" I gave a slightly sarcastic cry.

"Alright let's go beat some bad guy butt!" Luffy screamed. I chuckled as I followed the idiot that was my captain.

We split into groups. Zoro volunteered to fight the minions. "I'll go with him," Nayami said. I looked at her in confusion. Nayami hated Zoro with all her heart, and she went out of her way to show it. "Erm, capoeira is better to use on large groups of people," she explained. I still wasn't convinced.

The rest of us organized ourselves. Sanji, Brooke and I, Franky, Chopper and Robbin, and the last group was Nami, Usopp and Luffy. Each group fought three of the "friends" (except for Luffy's group, who fought two friends and the leader) and were to meet back at the ship when they were done.

Sanji was quite disappointed that I was the only girl in his group but continued on with his idiocrasy any way.

"Don't worry Xena-sama, I'll protect you!" he claimed while doing his noodle dance.

I glared at him with extreme hate at being underestimated. His visible eye popped with worry and he backed away. I got out my knives and was ready to use the new acupressure points Chopper had shown me. Just then a group of the "friends" popped out of the bushes. I went ballistic and began to slaughter.

I had gotten this habit from my now dead friend who looked exactly like Sanji (the biggest reason why I hate him even though its not his fault). That's always how he battled and I practiced with him so I had to match his ferocity or die. I do have to admit though I went a little too far this time, I even scared myself when I noticed how gruesomely I had done the job. I fell on my knees as I remembered what happened when _he_ died.

_Flashback..._

My front was splattered with blood when I came to realization of what had happened.

There was a storm raging around us when a navy ship came out of nowhere and began to kill all of my friends, no, my family right in front of me. I went absolutely ballistic and killed hundreds of men, but I then made a grave mistake, I killed Yuu. I killed my best friend (yes even more so than my sister).

I leaned over his dead body and a rush of memories, that now only hurt, ran through my head. I suddenly couldn't breath and still couldn't cry '_WHY, NO, WHY HIM, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, WHY, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' _I screamed in my head, I was furious with myself.

I let out an ear splitting cry and my vision began to leave me I heard my sisters voice but I took no notice as I looked down at my hands. What I saw terrified me. There was so much blood but none was my own, just the blood of people I'd torn apart. I then threw up and blacked out due to the horrid mix of feelings stirring in me at that moment.

After that I had awoken to a man swiftly carrying me away from the remains of my old ship. My head was throbbing. I had a huge gash on my face.

When I looked up I thought I saw Yuu and hope filled my heart, but it all crashed just as painfully as it had the first time when I realized that this was not him but a man that I did not know. I hated this man, he looked too much like Yuu.

I let out a faint hiss and I guess he heard me because he chuckled and said it would all be fine soon. I knew it would not, Yuu was dead, and I wasn't sure where my sister was, I had a mortal wound and my nakama had been murdered right in front of me. The hatred I held for this man grew with every second but I could not help but feeling his warm touch as he cradled me in his arms and I unconsciously snuggled into his chest.

_End flashback..._

Nayami's P.O.V.

As I ran through the forest with Zoro, confusion flooded through my head. Why did I volunteer to fight with this moss-brain? I hate him so much I can't really put it to words. He's just really, really annoying. When he's not fighting, he's either sleeping like the lazy idiot he is or swinging those big fat weights around like he's Superman or something. It's just stupid. It pisses me off so damn much. Plus he's totally inconsiderate of other people's thoughts or feelings.

_Flashback..._

I opened my eyes and groaned. My head hurt like hell. No, worse then hell, if that's possible.

Two strange guys were leaning over me. One had cropped green hair and deep forest-green eyes that were strangely hard for me to pull my gaze from. The other guy had blond hair that covered one of his eyes. The other eye was topped by a curly eyebrow, and there was a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. His eyes were a very dark blue, almost black.

"What the hell?" I said.

"Oh look, at least one of them's alive," the green haired guy muttered. This really pissed me off somehow.

"Shut up!" I screamed. I attempted to punch him in the face, but my arm felt like it weighed a million pounds. I missed his face by six inches at the least.

The blond guy was looking at me with a strange expression. He had hearts in his eyes, and his cigarette was making a heart-shaped puff of smoke. "Oh, I like your feisty temper!" he said in a enamored voice.

After he finished saying what he was saying a look of surprise and disgust dominated his face as he turned around he saw blood spattered on his suit.

"DAMN IT!" he howled.

I looked around. No bodies, dead or alive, were in sight. '_Oh, god, please don't let me be the only survivor. Oh, god. oh, god.' _Just then a pile of rubble next to me moved. The blond moved over to investigate, and a head popped out. It barfed up yet another stream of blood on the blond's shoes.

"Damn it!" I heard Xena's voice. I turned my head to look at her, relived to know that she was alive. I gasped. A long cut ran from atop her left eye to mid-cheek. A crossing cut ran from the far right side of her forehead to just above her jawline.

"Xena! You're okay! Except for your gigantic gash," I said with blond guy still screaming about his shoes in the background. I sighed in relief. My head plopped down on the pile of wreckage that now served as my pillow.

"I guess we should take them back to the ship with us." Green-Hair sighed. "Come on, Sanji. I'll get this one. You take her." He gestured at Xena.

"What! Why can't you take her, Marimo? I don't want her to stain my shoes again."

"Marimo" sighed. It sounded like he had been through this before.

"Sanji, just take the damn girl, okay? And for the last time, my name is not Marimo. It's Zoro."

"I know it's not your name. It's merely a not-so affectionate nickname!" said Sanji. Zoro face-palmed.

Zoro grabbed me by the armpits and lifted me up. "Come on, let's go," he said to me. I tried to wriggle out his grasp. "No!" I screamed. "I have to find my friends! I have to see if they're still alive!"

Zoro let out a sigh.

"We checked. They're all gone." His voice was laced with sadness, like he'd gone through something like this before. For a moment, I almost felt sorry for him.

Almost.

"Well, that doesn't mean I'm going with you!" I said stubbornly. I tried to stand up, only to collapse into Zoro's arms as I blacked out from exhaustion.

_End flashback..._

We ran through the forest until we came to a large clearing. I gasped. Rows and rows of the minions were standing, patiently waiting for us. They were these creepy things that looked sort of human except for the fact that they had scaly skin, red eyes and small horns, and were jet black. Oh, and their swords had a faint green tint. _'Poison,' _I thought.

I bent my knees, poised to attack. Zoro tied his dark green bandanna around his head and grasped his katana handles. Then, as if on cue, we all leaped at each other.

I don't want to brag, but I was amazing. I was just knocking them down. My twin machetes were flying and my capoeira skills were madder than ever. Zoro was doing awesome as well.

But it wasn't enough. For every wave we destroyed, another one took its place. Despite our extreme efforts, we got many scratches, slashes, and stabs. Zoro's front was the worst especially. I was good, because I could jump and spin, but Zoro was mostly protecting his back. We all knew he thought a scar on one's back wasn't honorable or something like that. Sadly, the demons were all around him. Back, front, and sides. After about thirty? forty minutes? - I don't know. It's hard to tell time when you're fighting - Zoro's shirt was torn to bits and he was bleeding all over.

"Are you okay? Do you need to take a break?" I yelled over the sounds of snarling and blades chopping off limbs and heads.

"No," he panted. "I'm good." But I heard exhaustion in his voice. His energy was wearing thin.

My teeth were clenched in indecision. Should I let Zoro get cut to the ground, or take over at the possibility that _**I**_would be cut to the ground?

"Zoro, you should- should take a rest," I told him through gritted teeth.

"I told you, I'm fine!" he said with a slightly annoyed tone

"Zoro, take a rest!" I was about screaming. "Take a rest! I'll cover for you!"

"No way!" he yelled in reply.

"Just do it, please!" I wailed. My emotions surged. Tears were streaming down my face. I don't know why even now. Maybe the frustration, or the anger, or both.

"I don't want you to get hurt any more than you have to!"

Under all the blood on his face, I could see a look of confusion. I was a bit confused too. But I just couldn't see him get struck down, even if it cost my own life. Zoro may have been one of the biggest jerks of all time, but he was my friend and crewmate, and I didn't want him to die.

The minions were advancing on me. Right then, I heard a sound from Zoro. I turned around. He was kneeling and holding out his sword, Wado Ichimonji, the most precious thing he owned next to his life.

"Here," he groaned. I stared at him in surprise.

"Oh, no, Zoro, I couldn't!" I exclaimed.

"Well, if you're gonna save my life, I may as well let you use Wado! Plus, it's lighter and easier to use than your machetes!" I still stood there, staring, as the minions advanced, slowly, as if waiting for something.

I took in a deep breath. "Okay," I almost whispered, my voice surprisingly steady. I took the sword and turned to face the minions.

"You will not hurt my friend anymore," I said.

I charged.

Zoro was right about Wado. The katana felt perfectly balanced in my hand, and it sliced through the minions like butter. They kept trying to get behind me to where Zoro was laying on the ground, but I screamed "Oh no you don't!" and cut them down.

All my anger, frustration, and fear combined into a swirling tornado that gave me a big energy boost. Time seemed to slow down around me - or maybe I was just super fast.

I began to get hotter and hotter as the number of dead minions rose. My body temperature got higher and higher. Finally, I cut down the last minion. My limbs were shaking like crazy, and my body felt like it had been dumped in a puddle of lava, then set on fire. "Oh crap, I think I used up all my energy," I said as I fell to the ground and blacked out.

Zoro's P.O.V.

I watched in horror as the unconscious body of Nayami fell to the ground. I wasn't sure if she was alive or not. I walked over to her. I could feel heat waves coming off her body from a couple feet away.

"Nayami?" I said, gently shaking her. She didn't respond.

I didn't know too much about Nayami, but I did know that if she had strong emotions while she was fighting, her brain went into overdrive and her body temperature rose dangerously high. I had to cool her down immediately.

Just then Sanji came into the clearing. "Hey Marimo, everyone's back at the ship, and they told me to go see how you were doi-" He broke off when he saw Nayami laying on the ground.

"What-" he began. "She's overheating!" I yelled. "We need to get her cooled down as soon as possible!" Sanji was at a loss for words. "So help me, dumbass chef!" I screamed. He finally got a thought through his brain and helped me lift her up. The poison from the swords made my wounds sting like hell, but at that time I didn't care. My only thought was to get help for Nayami.

As we ran across the shore towards the ship, it began to rain. When I first saw steam rolling off Nayami's body, I freaked. But then I realized it was just rain hitting Nayami's body and evaporating. _'Wow, she's getting really hot,' _I thought, and my panic increased.

By the time we had reached the ship, Sanji and I were drenched, but the only part of Nayami that was wet was her hair, and even that had begun to dry. I noticed her breathing was getting shallow. She was fading.

'_Come on, stay with me,' _I thought. _'You saved my life. I won't let you die.' _

Sanji and I scrambled onto the ship. The crew turned to look at me as I said "We have to help Nayami!"


	3. Chapter 3

Nayami's P.O.V.

I awoke to a big bag of ice on my head. And my arms. And all over my body. It was a terrible feeling, like I was hot and cold at the same time. Then I realized I _was _hot and cold at the same time. I groaned and sat up. When I saw Zoro sitting next to me, I nearly fell off the cot I was laying on.

"You're here?" I said in confusion.

"Yeah. The rest of them went to check if there were any more bad guys, and Nami told me to stay here and watch you, cuz it's kinda my fault you're like this, so..." He trailed off.

"Oh," I said. "Well um, thank you for saving me."

"Well, you did save my life. It's not like I was gonna let you die before I could repay you." Zoro blushed slightly.

Just then the rest of the crew came back. "We're all clear!" Nami declared. "Oh, hey, Nayami's awake. Come on, you should go back to your own room." As she half-carried me back to my cabin, I noticed Zoro staring after me, deep in thought.

Xena's P.O.V.

"FOOOOOD!" I screamed as I ran into the dining room. Right behind me was Luffy screaming the exact same thing. I was trying my hardest to get to the kitchen before him so I could bring some food to Nayami, I didn't have to worry about myself that was easy but unguarded food NEVER makes it. I almost ran into Sanji but stopped just before we collided.

"Thank-you!" I said in a sing-song voice as I took the plate that was meant for Nayami. I immediately ran away laughing at the face he made when I took it. I managed to keep Nayami's food away from Luffy and now arrived at her room.

"I brought your food." I announced as I walked into the door.

"Thanks." Nayami replied as she received her food

"Well I gotta go devour my food before Luffy does." I said with a smile. I danced out of the room.

"Come back when you're done!" Nayami called after me.

I had just finished dinner and was going back to Nayami's room as promised.

"Hey!" she said as I walked in the door.

"Hi!" I replied.

"So, how many plates of food did Luffy eat?" she asked, grinning.

I thought for a minute, then said "Five."

"Come on."

I sighed. "Fine. He ate seven."

"Ha! I knew it. Now pay up."

I reluctantly passed her 10 Beri.

"Excellent!" she exclaimed. "Now I have enough to get my machetes professionally cleaned in town."

"But Nami said you have to stay in bed 'till she says," I pointed out. "And knowing her, that won't be until at least after we've left port."

Nayami frowned. "Sigh. I guess you're right. Hmm, but maybe if I save up more I can get the handles polished..." she trailed off.

"Anyhow I'm gonna go take a nap." As I walked off, a smile played on my lips.

'_Lets practice' _I thought with ideas flooding my head as to just what I can do with those doors.

When I got to my room I threw myself onto the bed and fell asleep almost immediately. When I found I could comprehend what was happening again I noticed that ever-changing color room was maroon and smelled of roses.

'_Nice' _I smiled as I thought about it. I floated over to the tall wineberry doors and floated over to the right one. I tried to open it, but the handle slipped out of my grasp. As I floated away from the door, the room went black.

I sat up quickly. It took me a few minutes to register that I was in my cabin, not Dreamland. Frowning, I looked around to see what might have woken me up.

I heard scuffling and shouting coming from Nayami's cabin across the hall. I went to see what was happening.

A funny sight lay in front of me. Nami was attempting to pin a struggling Nayami to her bed.

"You need to stay here!" Nami was yelling.

"No! I'm tired of being cooped up! Just let me out on deck!" Nayami wailed in protest.

I smiled. It was hard to keep Nayami confined for a long period of time.

'_Hmmm... let's poke a little fun,'_ I decided. After all, she had woken me up from my nap.

"Come on, Nay-Nay, it's only been three days. Lighten up a little." I grinned at her.

Nayami looked at me with a fierce anger in her eyes. "Never... call... me... NAY-NAAAAAAAAAY!"

Her rage gave her the strength she needed to break free of Nami's grasp.

"Haha, finally free!" she yelled in triumph. She ran down the hall with Nami in close pursuit and burst out on deck. She then scrambled up to the crow's nest.

Nayami breathed in a burst of sea air. "Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh..." she sighed. Just then Nami reached the top of the rope ladder.

"Gotcha!" she exclaimed as she grabbed my sister around the waist.

"Nooooooo!" Nayami screamed. She grabbed onto the mast and wouldn't let go. She was acting like a two-year old. All the crew watched the scene unfold above them. Somehow, I ended up next to Sanji.

We both chuckled. I hardly noticed Sanji's hand inching toward my hand.

His fingers brushed against mine as he grabbed my hand. My fingers closed as I realized what he was doing. My reflexes lifted my other arm and punched him in the face. He groaned and grasped his cheek in pain.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" I screeched at the stupid flirt.

Sanji didn't seem to know what he was doing either, because he turned blood-red and ran into the kitchen.

I huffed in irritation. Sanji was such an idiot. But I proceeded to linger over what had just happened.

Nayami's P.O.V.

Despite my protests, Nami had insisted I go back to bed. So I was laying there, late at night, bored out of my skull.

I sighed.

'_What to do, what to do,' _I thought. Nothing came to me.

I slid my one of my machetes in and out of its sheath. Wait a second. Sheath? My machetes didn't have sheathes. They just hung at my side. Yeah, probably not the safest thing, but still.

I looked down. In my hands was Wado Ichimonji. Apparently I forgot to give it back to Zoro, and he forgot to ask for it.

'_Nami won't mind if I return this,' _I thought. I crept down the hall to Zoro's cabin and pushed open the door.

It was empty.

'_Hmmm, maybe he's out on deck,' _I thought.

I went out onto the Thousand Sunny's grassy deck. The air was so nice, I stopped and took a deep breath.

I looked up at the crow's nest. I thought _'Oh, what the heck,' _and climbed up the rope ladder.

"... 2581, 2582, 2583..."

I heard a familiar voice counting weight lifts and was reminded of the reason why I had come here in the first place.

Zoro was standing on deck lifting these huge weights. He didn't seem to notice me. I climbed down and walked over to him.

"Um, Zoro?" I half whispered.

"Hmmm?" He looked up from weight-lifting.

"Erm... I wanted to give you your sword back." I held up Wado.

"Oh." His eyes widened. "Yeah, that's right. Well, at least I knew it would be safe in your hands."

As I handed Wado back to him, his fingers brushed mine. He didn't draw back, and for some reason, neither did I.

"Erm... well... I'm gonna go back to bed now," I practically blurted.

"'Kay," he said. As I walked back to my cabin, I turned to look at him one last time. He picked up his weights and resumed lifting, silhouetted against the moon.

Nami had let me join the rest of the crew for breakfast, but I kinda wished I had stayed in my cabin. It seemed everyone was uncomfortable.

Nami and Robin were chatting about something, Chopper seemed a bit off (although he usually did, this was more so than usual), and even Sanji was distracted. He simply commented Nami on her new perfume instead of doing his noodle dance. And when he handed Xena her food, he blushed involuntarily. So did Xena.

Something was up._ 'I'll ask her about it later,' _I thought.

"Xeeeeeeeenaaaaaaaa!" I called from my cabin.

"Yes?" Xena poked her head in the door.

"Can I talk to you about something, please?"

She sat down on the foot of my bed.

"So, what's going on with you and Sanji?"

As soon as I said it, I regretted it. Her face turned bright red in anger and embarrassment.

"Nothing! He was just being an idiot last night and embarrassed himself! And me."

"Really. Where and when did said embarrassment happen?" I asked skeptically.

"It happened when you were throwing your little tantrum up in the crow's nest."

"Oh yeah. I thought I heard screaming below."

"What about you and a certain green-haired man?"

Now it was my turn to blush. "What the heck do you mean?"

"Haven't you seen how he acts around you lately? And how you act around him?"

I was extremely confused. I had no idea what Xena was talking about. "What?"

"Well, for example-" Xena began.

"Xena! You're on watch now!" Nami called. "Damn! Gotta go!" Xena ran off.

I sat there in shock, pondering what Xena had just said. Did Zoro really have a... _thing_ for me?

I played over the memories in my head: Zoro let me take over the fight, Zoro let me use his sword, Zoro had said that he knew his sword would be safe with me. I realized it all formed one message: Even though I hated him very, very deeply(for no reason at all), he still respected and trusted me.

Was he trying to torment me?

I thought about it. I mean, Zoro wasn't a bad guy, but still, I just couldn't imagine him and me... well, together. Plus, I swore I wouldn't, couldn't love anyone like that... not after Sora...

_Flashback..._

I was laying on the ground. My machetes were feet away from me, and I had a huge cut on my leg that made it difficult to stand, much less do any capoeira techniques.

The leader of the gang Sora and I were fighting was raising his sword for the final strike. I was helpless. As the leader plunged his sword down, Sora stepped between me and the sword.

I screamed in protest, but he just said "It's the principal of the thing, Nay-Nay," and the sword pierced the spot where his heart was. He was dead as soon as he hit the ground, and I was sobbing long before.

Somehow, I managed to reach my machetes and finish them all off, but that didn't accomplish anything, Sora was already gone. I might as well have let them kill me, but Sora's death had to be avenged.

After the battle was over, I collapsed, sobbing, cradling Sora's body. Xena and Yuu would later find me curled on the ground in the same spot where Sora had fallen.

_End flashback..._

That's why I couldn't love anyone, because when people love you, they do stupid things for you, like sacrifice themselves, and I wouldn't let anyone else die for me. I wouldn't even let Xena help me in a fight, because I was worried the same thing would happen to her.

I remembered the incident with the minions, where I had saved Zoro's life at the chance I might die, and he said he now owed me one.

I decided then and there I wouldn't let him repay me.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello! I just realized that I hadn't updated in a while. Sorry I kept you waiting, I've just kind of been in a writing funk for a couple weeks now. Hopefully I'll come out of it soon. In the meantime, here's the next chapter. Enjoy. Oh, and just so you know, the happenings in Xena and Nayami's past may seem a little confusing at first, but everything will fall into place. I'm thinking about writing a whole other story about their life, kind of like a prequel. **

Xena's P.O.V.

We left port the next morning, after we had checked there were no more bad guys lurking around.

At breakfast, Sanji was flashing weird glances at me and blushing like hell. This made me extremely angry, because 1. I didn't do anything and 2. He was looking at me like I was the one who had tried to hold his hand!

I decided I would have a little talk with him.

After breakfast I noticed Sanji had fled into the kitchen. This was my chance. I slipped in the door. He was washing dishes and didn't notice me. I walked up to him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned around, and I slapped his face.

He bent over in pain. "OWW! What the heck?" he screeched.

"Look, what's the big idea?" I said angrily. "First you try to hold my hand for some weird, stupid reason, probably because flirting comes second nature to you, and then you go about acting like I'm the one who did something wrong!"

Every word I spat out was a cue for his eyes to get larger and his eye brows to drop further. When I had finished a look of extreme surprise was plastered across his eyes. I felt kinda bad for him but didn't apologize and walked off.

I stalked off to my room with a scowl plastered on my face. I was planning to go take a nap, something I did A LOT now-a-days. I swung my door open and flopped onto my bed. I didn't even have to wait, a wave of darkness quickly flooded my conscience.

As soon as I realized that I was in the now familiar room, which was currently plum purple and smelled like plum blossom, I floated over to the tall doors and went through the one on the right. I was swept into the midnight room. Instead of just going into one of the doors of my crew I decided to travel outwards to what looked like stars.

I floated upwards for a long while and felt a heavy aura of sadness but it was soon lifted and replaced by an aura of hope and biter-sweet memories. I continued to float up and began to see a different kind of door. Instead of the usual gold and white they were black and red. I decided to explore one and choose one titled "Saki Damian", this just happened to be a deceased member of my old crew so I was quite interested in this door.

When I walked through I felt an _extremely _oppressive aura that made me want to kill myself, but I did not back away. I tried my best to ignore the feeling and examined where I was and saw that the future and present doors weren't there but the past was.

I walked into the single door and held my head in attempt to stop the pain of the sadness and misery this room was causing. I stumbled out of both doors and felt the pain wither away as everything turned black.

I woke up with a gasp. My hands were trembling. _'Maybe I shouldn't have done that,' _I thought. I went back to sleep.

I decided I'd save the adventures for another time and switched to the sleep door, which I had discovered sent me to my regular dreams, it turns out I can control these dreams too. How useful.

Nayami's P.O.V.

I had a very restless night.

First, the dream. I was standing on some hill, and on top of it stood Sora. I ran toward him and gave him a big hug. Then he turned into Xena, who in turn transformed into Zoro. Then these ghost-demon things formed and began to attack us. They made Zoro melt, first his feet, then his legs, until he was a puddle from the waist down. And then I fell down the hill.

I woke up shaking and sweaty. Suddenly the room felt very narrow and confined. I decided to go outside and get some fresh air.

I walked outside. The deck was lit up by the huge moon hanging in the sky. I climbed up to the crow's nest. I sat down, closed my eyes, and breathed in the fresh sea air.

I heard footsteps below. I could tell from the sound of it that it was Xena. She climbed up to the crow's nest to join me.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey," I replied with my eyes still closed. "You couldn't sleep either?"

I heard the _whoosh _of her head as she nodded. "Yeah."

"I told you that you shouldn't take so many naps in the day."

"Ehhh, but it's fun to explore my Dreamland!" she whined.

"Why can't you explore your "Dreamland" at night, when you're supposed to be asleep?"

"If you ever went there, you would understand."

She sat down, and I rested my head on her shoulder. I was glad I had such an awesome sister.

I awoke the next morning to Nami calling "Land! I see land!" from the crow's nest.

The crew assembled. They lowered the pirate flag, as was "tradition."

The island was a small but rich one. There was a beautiful forest that looked like it surrounded the entire island, except for a small path that had been cleared. You could see a small village in the distance if you looked down the path. The trees bore tasty-looking fruit and tropical flowers of many gorgeous colors. I saw everyone marvel at the island's beauty.

Once we got on land, Nami began assigning everyone tasks.

"Okay, let's have some people explore the forest. We should do pairs, how about Sanji and Usopp, and Nayami and Zoro. Xena, you guard the ship. And don't eat any devil fruits this time. The rest of you come with me to explore the village."

My face reddened a bit when she mentioned that Zoro and I would go together, but I didn't complain.

Nami, Luffy, Robin, Chopper, Franky, and Brooke went down the path to the village. Xena went back to the ship, and Sanji and Usopp went into the forest, leaving Zoro and me alone.

I felt so awkward I could hardly put it to words. I was blushing like crazy.

"Ummmm, we should, ermm, like, go into the forest now?" I stuttered.

"Yeah, we probably should, seeing as our job is to explore the forest," he said. His voice was calm, but I could see a faint red glow tinting his face.

As we walked through the forest, I got more and more embarrassed. Why was I acting so stupid around Zoro? There was no reason to.

We walked along for quite some time. The air was filled with scents of the fragrant flowers. Bird chirps filled the air.

All of a sudden, these weird guys wielding swords jumped out of the bushes in front of us. There were seven of them. Six were in traditional black Japanese ninja outfits. The other one, who I presumed was the leader, was wearing the same thing, except his outfit was white, and you could see all of his face.

He smiled and snapped his fingers, and the other ninjas attacked. Three went for Zoro, and three went for me.

Things were going great on my part, for about five minutes. During that time, I was able to look over and see how Zoro was doing. Apparently, much better than me. He had already killed the three ninjas that attacked him and was now battling the leader.

I was doing pretty well too. My machetes were flying, and I was pushing the ninjas back, making them retreat. All of a sudden, I tripped over a tree root. I fell flat on my face with a grunt.

I stood back up, but my ankle hurt like heck. Despite the pain, I managed to pick up my machetes and resume fighting. But it all went downhill from there.

First one of the ninjas swung his sword and cut one of my machetes in half. And if that wasn't enough, another knocked my other machete out of my hand and bent it with his bare hands. If I weren't so distracted, I would have been enraged, but the pain in my ankle was too hard not to focus on.

I collapsed. My ankle was throbbing.

Zoro stabbed the leader and he fell to the ground, not dead, but almost there. He then looked over and saw me collapsed on the ground. He cursed as one of the ninjas raised his sword to strike the final blow. I closed my eyes.

But it never came. I opened my eyes to see Zoro blocking the death strike with his sword. But the sword slipped out of his hand. Time seemed to slow down. I screamed "Zoro, NO!" but it was too late. He fell to the ground as the sword punctured his chest, right about where his heart was, a death-blow. Memories of Sora and that day flashed through my head, and my face contorted into a look of shock and horror.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, NO! Oh my god, no!" I screamed. The remaining ninjas ran away into the bushes. I guess they decided we weren't much of a threat anymore.

I lay on the ground, sobbing. "Why did this have to happen? After everything, WHY?" I screamed. "Why, I just don't understand!" Tears were flooding down my face.

I heard a small noise come from Zoro's direction. I wiped my face and looked up.

Zoro turned onto his back. He groaned. "Remind me, why did I do that?"

I gasped. "You're alive!" I leaped on top of him and gave him a big hug. The tears were flowing again, but this time they were of happiness. He grunted. "Please get off of me."

I remembered the wound in his chest.

"Oh, yeah! We got to get you back to the ship! You almost died!"

Xena's P.O.V.

I walked into Nayami's room. She was laying on her bed, face buried into her pillow.

"Hey," I said. She looked up.

"Hi," she replied in a quiet voice.

"So, Nami said that he's fine. He said he could just sleep it off, but Chopper insisted on bandaging it. I guess he lost a lot of blood. But, I mean, he just got stabbed. It's not that big of a deal, right?"

Nayami sat there, chewing her lip. After a while she said "Yeah, I guess."

I sat down on her bed. "Hey." She looked up. "Why are you so worried all of a sudden?"

"I don't know. I just don't want him to die."

"Seriously? He got stabbed. I mean, what do you think is gonna happen?"

Nayami made a face, then sighed. "Can I just have some time alone, please? I need to- to process what's going on."

I turned and left as asked. As I walked out the door, I huffed. Nayami could be weird sometimes.

I was just about to go to my room and take a nap when I heard Sanji call "Diiiiiinneeer!" I groaned in annoyance. If possible, my hatred for him rose a bit.

I have to say, dinner was delicious. Sanji had cooked up this yummy pasta dish with these tasty leaves he must have gotten from some island plant, some warm, buttery rolls, and for dessert there was a fruit salad composed of juicy, fresh picked tropical fruits.

I was literally shoving it into my mouth. So was Luffy, but that wasn't much of a surprise.

"Yum," I stated. I was so focused on chowing down that I hardly heard what Nami said.

"Xena, did you hear me? I said you're on watch tonight," Nami repeated.

"Mmthay," I said with my mouth full of food.

Dinner was just as usual, Luffy and I stealing food from others and stuffing ourselves, Nami and Sanji yelling at us the whole time, and everyone else watched, laughed and became victim to Luffy's and my food stealing.

As I snatched a piece of fruit from Robin, I noticed Nayami was picking at her pasta, which was very unlike her. Nayami loves pasta.

She looked kind of... sad and worried.

I then had an idea. I stuffed the fruit I had just stolen into my mouth and reached over to steal some pasta from Nayami's plate. I grabbed a handful from her plate and shoved it into my mouth.

"Yum!" I said.

She looked up with a surprised/shocked look on her face. It was so funny that everyone burst out laughing. Soon Nayami joined in too.

'_Alright, success!' _I thought with a smile on my face as I took a roll off of Sanji's plate. The smile got wider as I saw the face he made.

After dinner, I went to go out on deck. I passed Usopp in the hall.

"Hey Xena," he greeted, catching me off guard. Usopp hardly ever said hi to me.

"Hi, Usopp!" I smiled, and he smiled back.

I walked out on deck, a warm feeling inside of me. I just love making people happy.

I climbed down to the anchor to take watch. A warm breeze was blowing. I closed my eyes and soon fell asleep.

This time the dream realm was a light purple color and smelled of lavender. I floated through the tall door on the right but was immediately woken up.

When I gained conciseness my head was stinging. I looked around and saw a small black sphere on the ground next to me. I picked it up in wonder as Nami walked down the hall. Only later would I realize that I was hit in the head to wake me up, and therefore saved from Nami's wrath.

"Hey Xena, it's time to switch out," she called down to me. I went back to my cabin and fell asleep immediately.

**Virtual cake if you can guess where the small black sphere came from. You can choose the flavor. XD**


End file.
